July’s Artifact of the Month is a souvenir program from the Fifth Annual Shasta County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo in 1953. This sublime relic can teach us so much about what life was like back then.
Malaria? In Redding? You bet! Step back a hundred years to the “good old days” and imagine a warm June day after a nice, wet spring. It’s a recipe for mosquitoes! Malaria was a common, and deadly, ailment – along with a host of other preventable and treatable diseases that we seldom worry about today.
Just as no subject was unremarkable, no spot was inaccessible. Colby maneuvered around the Dam carrying a 40-pound 8” x 10” format Kodak camera, a wooden tripod, film holders, and the rest of his gear. He also used a 4” x 5” format camera for some shots. This combination of a large format camera and Howard’s skill produced crystal-clear, high-resolution photos with incredible details.
Insects represent some of the planet's most bizarre – yet familiar – and enchanting life forms. Some can be as intricately delicate as a butterfly, while others can be as tough and gnarly as some beetles.
The community eagerly anticipated the Turtle Bay Auction, and this year's event did not disappoint. The theme was "Off to The Races," and guests arrived dressed in their finest Kentucky Derby-inspired ensembles. They were greeted by a stunning display of decorations that transported them to Churchill Downs.
November is Native American Heritage Month, but at Turtle Bay Exploration Park, we celebrate Native American Heritage every day. Our 300-acre campus straddles two traditional Wintu territories; ?elpom on the south side of the river and dawpom to the north. When you are at Turtle Bay, you are walking in the footsteps of people who have lived here since time immemorial.
The Redding City Identity Project is working to strengthen the image and reputation of our city. It serves as an opportunity to tell our story: it will establish our city’s image and reputation by defining who we are and intentionally building toward what we will become. A city’s image is connected to its competitive advantage as a place to live, vacation, and invest.
Turtle Bay Exploration Park holds a collection of over 35,000 objects, but our art and artifacts are not kept exclusively for our museum. Just as we often borrow objects for our own exhibitions, we are a resource for other researchers and other institutions. These objects act as ambassadors for Turtle Bay and our mission.
Most of us had access to some sort of wagon when we were kids. Commercially made children’s wagons have been around since the 1880s and the iconic red metal Radio Flyer brand debuted in the early 1930s. Even today, with the prevalence of digital gadgets, wagons come in a wide range of materials and still sell well.
A lifelong horse lover, Suzie Burgess has transformed her passion into tangible results to become a growing name in the equestrian art sphere. Her masterpieces from various collections have been spotlighted at multiple showings on the West Coast, and her life-size portraits have most especially earned acclaim. An expert at completing realistic commissioned paintings as well as original work, Burgess is able to capture the intricacies of the equine spirit that can be enjoyed for lifetimes.
The Iconic Fashion Exhibit features the personal, designer collection of local resident Aleta Carpenter who spent her career as a political lobbyist. The collection elegantly displays the high fashion of the 1980s and early 1990s created by world-famous designers such as Valentino, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta and more.
Not only are her designs adorably whimsical and highly collectible, but she was a role model to aspire to! My curiosity was piqued and I was falling headfirst down the rabbit hole. Before things went too far, I opened up our collections database to see how many Tammis Keefe items we had in the collection. Would there be enough to create an exhibition? The answer is… yes!
Oktoberfest 2019 at Turtle Bay was a blast! Nearly 700 people came out to celebrate fall in newly renovated Paul Bunyan’s Forest Camp with 14 local breweries paired with delicious food, local art, live music, costume contests, crafts, face painting, and more! Kids and adults of all ages explored Turtle Bay’s new outdoor playground and water feature areas while Black Vinyl 45 played all the hits in the outdoor amphitheater. Some guests even tried their hand at glass blowing their own works of art.
At first glance, these four pages may not seem too compelling, but there is more here than meets the eye! What appears to be a stack of personal notes, jotted down in old-fashioned cursive, are actually records from court cases related to miners and land claims. The cases were conducted in French Gulch in the late 1800’s. Legal documents like these offer a glimpse into 19th Century life while also providing insight into the local affairs of 1890.
On Tuesday evening, at the Mosaic Gallery, we hosted a very special opening reception for Suzanne Gibbs’ Carr Fire Exhibition, observing the anniversary of the Carr Fire and commemorating all that came to follow. It was a restorative evening of healing, and even at times, humor. The artist shared her personal experience of the Carr Fire which led to the unique technique of including ash in her artworks in an effort process the loss and devastation that occurred in her community of East Fork in French Gulch…
Bobcats are the most abundant wildcat in North America but, being so elusive, it’s hard for anybody to ever spot one. Bobcats get their name from the shortened or bobbed tail. The coloration of a bobcat’s fur depends on where they live. If they live in the woods, they have a lot of spots. If they live in the open areas, it’s more solid.
Community members, donors and staff gathered this morning to celebrate the opening of Turtle Bay’s Forest Adventure Playground, a new big-kids play area located within Paul Bunyan’s Forest Camp. This playground is the most recent inclusion from the Park’s Forestry Forward Project and is complimented by Babe’s Corral, a playground for children ages 0-5, as well as the Mill Building.
One might argue that the handbag (purse, satchel, or just plain old bag) is probably one of the oldest hominid inventions. An animal bladder, a skin, a gourd, or even a really big leaf could be adapted as an effective way to carry our ever-increasing number of possessions. Over millennia, a relatively simple and practical way to carry stuff has been elevated to an art form and a status symbol accessory.
